At a recent council meeting I asked the council to consider asking our CFO to prepare a report on the feasibility of a property tax reduction, such as 10%, for seniors–whether all seniors or only those with income under a certain level (based on income tax returns) TBD. Other towns do this. It’s fiscally sound for all: a house sold by one or two seniors will go to a family with children, further burdening the school system. With our new all-day kindergarten, and the strong possibility of numerous new apartments looming, we will attract more people with very young children attending school from K through 12. Seniors are around during the day to keep an eye on the neighborhood when others are at work. Seniors volunteer and patronize stores, restaurants, the movie theater, and services such as hair salons on weekdays. A tax reduction each year, especially as taxes rise but a fixed income does not, might help some seniors to remain. Another point that needs to be far more widely known is that seniors with income under a specified amount are entitled to a property tax reduction through the state. The council and website should announce this and provide details, links, forms at Village Hall, etc.

If they cap it at a certain income level it would not be fair. I saved for years. I know lots of people who lived large and are now worried about retirement income. Why should the nonsavers be rewarded?

I have always thought that my 5 bedroom would be attractive to a large family. I owned a home in Ridgewood before having children and now I have no one in the schools. Enough!

When I was buying house, we searched for a house in ridgewood for over a year. During that time I came across four different properties, where a single old person was still at home during the showing as it was inconvenient for them to go out. All four had same exact story to tell. Lived in ridgewood for over 50 years and now within last 10 years property taxes skyrocketed and they had to sell the house they spent most of their lives in.
This is just a bad “system”.
This encourages people to make repairs that will last “when they are in the house”.